In all human cultures where infants, babies, and toddlers wear clothing, the issue of determining when underclothing such as diapers need to be changed represents a continuous nuisance, medical risk, expense, and waste of time. A similar issue exists for infirm adults, especially those who cannot communicate.
Often, babies are aroused from sleep unnecessarily to check a diaper, causing harm to them and disruption to caregivers. During automotive travel, it may be necessary to pull over and stop the vehicle in what may be unsafe or inclement conditions, just to determine whether a diaper needs to be changed. If a diaper is checked too late, the consequences could be painful and dangerous chafing and/or infiltration to other clothing and surrounding objects. The diaper wetness monitoring task is magnified when there are multiple babies or infirm patients.
Many sensing methods that automatically provide an alarm when a diaper has become wet have been advanced during the past twenty years or so. All of them require special diaper construction and/or devices that mount inside the diaper or other undergarment and make physical contact with excrement. Moreover, they are sensitive only to liquid waste.
In contrast, the methods described in the instant disclosure are sensitive to liquid and solid waste. They require no special clothing construction and employ only miniature electronic devices that are either hand held or attached to the outside of a diaper or other undergarment. The single device can be used repeatedly for a period of years with no maintenance, and it could include communication with the caregiver via wireless means. Moreover, the device itself and method of attachment to clothing are intrinsically safe for infants and babies.